Wildlands Emmen The city counsil of Emmen has agreed with building the new zoo!

On the map you also see a route for the visitors that follows a bridge over the elephant enclosure, so it isn't unimaginable that visitors will be able to see the elephants when they are inside. The zoo already mentioned they wanted to give the visitors the possibility to see more animals in their inside enclosures. And the elephants will form a major attraction in the new zoo, just as it is now, so it would be unlogical that visitors are nog able to see them when they are inside, especially during winter time.
 
I find this project deeply fascinating! Any news? Is everything working according to plan?

In the first post in this thread, written in 2008, it says that the time frame is five years, so... completion in 2013? Is that still valid?
 
According to the latest news, they will start building the end of this year. First they start with the main multifunctional building wich will contain an entrance square, theater, and large greenhouse. The first climate zone ( tropical warmth) should be finished in 2013. The other two climate zones should open in 2015.

There's allready a large waterpurification installation on site, which is fitted for the old park. At first they had to alter the installation to get it fit for the new park. Thanks to some clever adaptations however, it's now already fit for the new park as well, which saven millions of euro's.
 
I will, but according to what I heard they are still changing plans. There were rumours the siberian tigers would be taken out of the collection for the 'icy cold' in favour of the kodiak bears and a more social and active species ( probably wolves), and now they are back in the game.

They want to split up the elephant herd, and keep more elephantbulls. Because emmen understandably wants to keep radza, the plan was to keep him separated together with some older females, now I heard the plan is to keep a separate herd of elephant bulls.

So things are still changing. It also seems they are going to show gavials in the future, which seems certain instead of a wish. But even that can still change.
 
Emmen is currently trying to obtain giant panda's for the new park. A business delegation has paid a visit to china this year ( which contributed to the coming of the china festival of lights to the zoo), to promote the city of emmen to chinese companies. Chinese partners have already agreed to help investigate the possibilities of housing giant panda's in the new zoo, and to negotiate between the authorities and the emmen zoo which ultimately must lead to the coming of panda's to emmen.

I don't know if they'll succeed, but it would be a large crowdpleaser if they would.
 
Yes, there is a map, but it gives no written explanations. Allthough I am somewhat 'informed', due to recent changes in plans I do not know exactly which animals go to certain enclosures.
 
The dutch government has approved an amount of 8.5 million euro's to be granted to the relocation of the zoo, and the redevelopment of the city center.
 
Any news on this at the moment? Has construction started? If so are there any pictures?
 
No news. Construction should begin this year, but it will probably be delayed, because the city council messed up the procedure to find an architect, so that will be redone.
 
Lets be realistic. Since the early start, there were fantastic plans. In hte meantime, more and more was skipped. It lookes like Emmen does'nt have any 'backbone' in his vision. There is only a handfull of Emmen fanatics that are still enthousiastic about the new zoo. If you could follow the newspapers here, you could read that there is a lot of debate on the financial situation of Emmen Zoo. I would'nt be surprised if only a verry 'undressed' plan is going to be build. Since the beginning they screamed a lot of Halleluya... but it's going to be verry disappointing for the general public is my quess. They can't build what they 'promised' , that's fore shure. Now they are hoping for panda's and yelling that into the world.. how realistic is that? Another disappointment being born here..? like a lot before!!! Think so..
 
Sorry, but most of the plans still stand. The parts that were skipped ( the aquatic part), were simply skipped because the planned large salt water basin would not be permitted by the water company, and without this the aquatic world would loose most of it's attractiveness. And especially the plans for the icy cold are still changing, and could turn out to be quite spectacular, or not. And yes, they are trying to get panda's. And trying hard. But as they themselves are saying, it's nothing more than trying for now.

And the debate you are referring too, has nothing to do with the new zoo, but with the old one. The financial situation of emmen zoo is bad, that's for sure. Because they lack the possibilities to invest in the old zoo, they decided to move the entire zoo. The debate is about the fact if the city should support the zoo financially or not. And if they do, it would mean it would only have to be for a few years, because if everything goes according to plans, the zoo will move to the new location in a few years.
 
...because if everything goes according to plans, the zoo will move to the new location in a few years.

I'm sure they will move to the new location, I agree. But I'm not sure that they will realise what they promise.. ( in fact I'm sure they will not). They keep skipping and changing.. well let's see and judge in few years, oké?
 
I just visited this Zoo last week, and talked with one of their lead employees, and I was clearly told that they are rebuilding the entire Zoo out at the Yucatan site. When I asked when this will happen, I was told "By about 2015".

I have to admit that, after visiting the Emmen Zoo, I am a bit mystified at why this is happening. I'm mystified because .... the current Emmen Zoo is great! There's a major part of me that will hate to see the excellent exhibits in the old Zoo torn down. But I can totally understand why they'd want to get rid of that long walk between the two sections of the Zoo. It was a bit weird to walk through an indoor/outdoor mall while continuing my Zoo tour. (I bought some delicious Flemish fries on the way! :D) Finally, if they really have the money to do this rebuild, why not?
 
Yep, it is sad when the old zoo would be torn down. But the simple problem is, they have no space here to build new exhibits, and breaking down most of the current exhibits would most likely have a negative effect, since these parts of the zoo are very popular. And they have to come with new attractions once in a while to keep the attendance up. That's the problem. And burgers and blijdorp are right on their tail in quality, and have surpassed emmen in attendance thanks to major ocean attractions. And they have the advantage of being in densely populated area's of the netherlands. So emmen would have to offer something very special in order for people to make the journey to this rural area again.

But the final plan contains some very spectaculair parts ( which I cannot yet reveal) but it will be awesome, that's for sure.
 
(I bought some delicious Flemish fries on the way! :D)

HAHA, my favorite part of my usual visit to Emmen Zoo is to buy the Flemish Fries at the TINY snackbar in the centre of town, which you have to pass when you walk to the other section of the Zoo :)
 
Please understand, Johnny, that I am NOT criticizing this move! In fact, I too find it exciting. But I also find it surprising because Emmen's current zoo is already so nice. Again, though, IF they have the money, then I'm 100% supportive of this. But if we were talking about going deep into debt, or cutting other necessary city services, then I'd have problems with this.

I kind of like Sooty's football stadium example (see Page 1), but I'll put an American spin on it. Here in my city of Indianapolis, Indiana, we too have a football team, the Colts, only they play American-style of football -- with the funny-shaped ball. Recently, my city their fairly-nice domed stadium, that was barely 20 years old, so they could build the Colts a brand new state-of-the-art retractable dome stadium. When they imploded the still-new stadium, the city had barely begun paying for it! So now we're paying for 2 stadiums, including one that no longer exists! Why? Because the Colts blackmailed the city, threatening to move to Los Angeles if they didn't get a new stadium.

This is the kind of thing I hope Emmen doesn't do -- and it doesn't sound like they are doing this.
 
HAHA, my favorite part of my usual visit to Emmen Zoo is to buy the Flemish Fries at the TINY snackbar in the centre of town, which you have to pass when you walk to the other section of the Zoo :)

Sounds like I went to the same snack bar. Delicious fries!
 
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